Wednesday, December 28, 2011

"Hiru TV" test transmissions now on

Sri Lanka's latest television channel Hiru TV will be launching soon on Dialog TV & PEO TV. The channel is currently carrying out test transmissions on both the pay television networks now for a few weeks. The exact launch date is not known but it could be somewhere in January 2012.

With Hiru TV the ABC Group which is well known for it's radio stations will be be foraying into the television industry. At the moment we are unable to ascertain whether this channel will be available FTA sometime in the future or whether it will cater solely to the pay television market.

Please keep us updated on the latest regarding Hiru TV as the days progress.

3zzz,Any news about SHA FM? Becuase on 1st January this year, when they relaunched SUN FM, they have boasted that they will relaunch SHA FM during the next few months of the year. But we are now almost at the the end of this year and there is no sign of relaunching the SHA.

Yes, there is no news abt Sha re-launching so far. According to ABC, they are fully focused on Hiru TV now.

Anyway, there is reliable news saying Vendol Radio will be launched on Jan 1st or within the month of January,

And,

Youth Radio is going to change their name in to 'Rivira FM' while Your Radio in to 'CSN FM'. Since VIS Broadcasting now managed by CSN, they are planning to move the Youth & Your studios in to CSN premises located at Battaramulla. The reason to change 'Youth' in to 'Rivira' is believe it be the new management at Rivira Newspaper is investing on them.

Specially the UNP and JVP were questioning about it's establishment, procedure of obtaining frequencies, license.

Moreover, CSN has controversially obtained the telecasting rights of recent SL matches by defeating Rupavahini bids and organized a massive 2day motor race at the heart of Colombo by closing down the main streets and roads.

Yes, one can strongly believe that CSN has a powerful hand behind its control to do such things....

BUT according to the Registrar of Companies CSN has no Rajapaksas at their directors board.

So nobody can prove it, only who knows know it!

Here is a link to an article published on the 'Sunday Leader' newspaper abt CSN and its ownership.

As I know this the year that all the TV stations must start to convert their transmission to Digital transmission. So what's the mean of Hiru TV getting the analogue frequencies? They could straight away start as a Digital TV channel rather than starting as an analogue channel and then converting to Digital channel, right?

Transmission frequency reserved for TNL illegally allocated to another

In separate letters addressed to Lalith Weeratunga, Chairman and Anusha Palpita Director General of the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka, the Chairman of the Teleshan Network Shaan Wickremesinghe has alleged that the transmission frequency reserved for his network has been illegally allocated to another network.

In his letter to the Chairman of the TRC, Lalith Weeratunga, Wickremesinghe notes that several TV stations are in real trouble due to the TRC issuing their frequencies to a favoured lot who are re-organizing to start fresh.

Writing to the Director General of the TRC Anusha Palpita, Wickremesinghe says that Channel 26 had been used by his network for twenty years, but his network had recently received several complaints that viewers were unable to view his channel due to severe interference.

He goes on to say that upon investigation, it was revealed that Asia Broadcasting had been allocated the use of Channel 26 from Gammaduwa using 10 kilowatts of power, which is an illegal act by the TRC which is currently a member of the International Telecommunication Union.

He also makes note of his surprise as to why the TRC issued frequencies to Asia Broadcasting and Voice of Asia after obtaining reservation charges from his network.

Wickremesinghe points out that some years ago these channels were issued channels around 40, but they were cancelled by the TRC as they were not used.

He noted that Asia Broadcasting then went to court to get back the original channels.

Wickremesinghe says that it is therefore a mystery as to why their original channels were not allocated and instead, his channels in the same area were issued.

In his letter the Chairman of the Teleshan network requests the Director General to stop this illegal transmission and adhere to the frequency reservations already made according to the seniority of stations.

He went on to outline the definition of the word "reservation" according to the Oxford dictionary, as, quote, "…keeping aside or booking or part of an agreement to keep something reserved" unquote.

Meanwhile, reports reveal that several other networks affected by this arbitrary allocation of frequencies would be taking this matter up with the TRC in the next few days.

This forum is dedicated to highlight the happenings in the Sri Lankan Broadcasting Industry and also keeps you updated on happenings Internationally also. We will also provide certain Program Highlights, Technological Uses and anything related to the broadcasting field locally and Internationally. We will focus mainly on Sri Lanka since this is a Sri Lankan forum.